‘The kind of access they can’t imagine’

Obama criticized high-dollar fundraisers in 1996; now hosts them

The Obama reelection effort has been hosting fundraisers this year that routinely sell tickets for $35,000. But before he was president, Obama criticized high-money fundraisers while running for the Illinois State Senate in 1996. According to Buzzfeed, which found the president's quote in a 1996 Cleveland Plain-Dealer article, Obama said:

"You got these $10,000-a-plate dinners and Golden Circles Clubs. I think when the average voter looks at that, they rightly feel they're locked out of the process. They can't attend a $10,000 breakfast and they know that those who can are going to get the kind of access they can't imagine."